1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a personal watercraft in which a steering nozzle for determining the jet direction of jet water is swingable vertically and in the left-right direction and in which a reverse bucket for guiding the jet water forwards is provided.
2. Description of the Related Art
Personal watercraft for use on bodies of water are known. One such example of a personal watercraft is shown in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2000-198491 and will be described below.
The personal watercraft comprises an engine and a jet propeller driven by the engine which are provided in a hull, and a steering nozzle provided at the rear end of the jet propeller. The jet propeller is driven by the engine, whereby an impeller of the water jet propeller is rotated, and water is sucked in through an intake port in the hull bottom by the rotation of the impeller.
The water thus sucked in is ejected as jet water from the rear end of the steering nozzle, causing the personal watercraft to plane as a result of the jet force of the jet water.
The steering nozzle of the personal watercraft is swingable in the left-right direction, for steering the hull in the left-right direction during navigation or planing. Furthermore, the steering nozzle is made to be vertically swingable for maintaining the personal watercraft in a favorable posture during navigation.
For vertically swinging the steering nozzle in this manner, an operating cable is connected to an upper end portion of the steering nozzle through a connection portion, the operating cable is extended along an upper portion of the steering nozzle to an operating handle, and the front end of the operating handle is connected to an operating lever.
With this arrangement, the steering nozzle can be vertically swung with the operating cable by operating the operating lever.
Meanwhile, a reverse bucket for moving the personal watercraft rearwards is provided at a rear portion of the steering. The reverse bucket can be disposed at a position for avoiding a jet port of the steering nozzle and at a position opposed to and on the rear side of the jet port. With this arrangement, the reverse bucket can be made to avoid the jet port of the steering nozzle and jet water can thereby be ejected rearwards, such as is the case when the personal watercraft is planing.
On the other hand, when the personal watercraft is moving rearwards, the reverse bucket can be made to front on the jet port of the steering nozzle and the jet water can thereby be guided forwards by the reverse bucket. However, in order to vertically swing the steering nozzle, it is necessary to connect the operating cable to the upper end portion of the steering nozzle through a connection portion.
Therefore, when the reverse bucket is moved to the upper side of the steering nozzle for ensuring that the reverse bucket avoids the jet port of the steering nozzle, the reverse bucket may interfere with the connection portion and the operating cable.
As a method for preventing the interference of the reverse bucket with the connection portion and the operating cable, it may be contemplated to provide the reverse bucket with a cutout in a portion thereof corresponding to the connection portion and the operating cable. However, the reverse bucket has the role of efficiently guiding the jet water forwards and, if the reverse bucket is provided with a cutout, the jet water would pass through the cutout and flow out to the rear side of the reverse bucket.
This makes it difficult to efficiently guide the jet water ejected from the steering nozzle in a forward direction.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a personal watercraft in which jet water can be efficiently guided in a forward direction and in which a reverse bucket can be prevented from interfering with an operating cable and a connection portion for vertical sliding, which are provided at an upper portion of a steering nozzle.